1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a grass collecting apparatus for a lawn mower comprising a frame supported by a vehicle body, a container supporting member for supporting a grass collecting container for storing grass clippings and including a container supporting surface for receiving an opening edge of the grass collecting container, and a container cover mounted on the frame to be oscillatable about a horizontal axis between a closed position and an opened position. The container cover is adapted to cover an opening of the grass collecting container supported by the container supporting member when in the closed position and open the opening when in the opened position.
2. Description of the Related Art
A grass collecting apparatus for a lawn mower comprising a container frame, right and left grass collecting containers and a container cover is known from Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-278573 (see paragraph 0023 to 0026; FIGS. 7 to 8). With this grass collecting apparatus, the right and left grass collecting containers each include a fabric material sewn to a rectangular-bag shape, a through hole formed along an upper end opening edge of the bag-shaped fabric material, and a core frame inserted into the through hole. The core frame forms a rectangular opening edge of the grass collecting container. The container frame includes a cross frame member and four supporting arms extending rearward from the cross frame member. The container frame supports an opening edge of the grass collecting portion as placed on top surfaces of the two supporting arms and the cross frame member The container cover is pivotably supported by the container frame through hinge elements to be vertically oscillatable for opening and closing. The grass collecting apparatus further comprises an engaging member projecting from a front edge central portion of the core frame of the grass collecting container, and a fixed seal plate secured to the cross frame of the container frame and having an opening. The engaging member is inserted into this opening to be engaged with the cross frame thereby restraining the grass collecting container from being displaced on the container frame.
When the grass collecting container is positioned relative to the container supporting member by the conventional engaging member and the opening in this conventional grass collecting apparatus, the grass collecting container is difficult to remove from the container supporting member More particularly, with the positioning mechanism formed of the engaging member and the opening as noted above, when the grass collecting container is removed from the container supporting member, the grass collecting container engaged by the engaging member is disengageable from the container supporting member only by lifting the grass collecting container from the container supporting surface. However, when the grass collecting container is heavy due to collected grass clippings, the grass collecting container is hard to lift, and thus increases a burden of a disengaging operation of the grass collecting container relative to the container supporting member.